WHAT IS EMULATION?
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software, or both, that duplicates (or emulates) the functions of one computer system (the guest) in another computer system (the host). Exploited by ‘Retro’ or ‘Old-School’ gamers to play some of their favourite titles exactly as they were on the original Hardware (Arcade, Console or Home Computer), emulation also allows Raspberry Pi users to substantially increase the amount of software available. For instance, Nintendo’s Famicom/NES and Super Famicom/SNES have over 700 game titles each, the Commodore 64 in excess of 23,000!
Given the disparity of processing power, 32Bit ARM Raspberry Pi vs the 8Bit Zilog Z80/MOS 6502 or 16Bit Motorola 68000 CPU’s of the older systems, emulation is not always ‘Perfect’. Why? because emulation is VERY processor intensive, the ‘Host’ system has to be many times more powerful than the ‘Guest’ system (*See Jeff Vavasour's article, Link below). Additionally, many early consoles incorporated ‘Custom’ processors for graphics/sound which as they are often not fully documented make emulating their features particularly challenging.
Many Linux emulators use ‘General’ SDL graphics Drivers for rendering where the Raspberry Pi’s ARM CPU (Central Processing Unit) will not get assistance from the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). In general terms look for emulators that are ‘Optimised’ for the Raspberry Pi and/or use OpenGLES graphics Drivers where the CPU will get assistance from the GPU. As an example MAME4ALLPi’s performance is approximately 250-300% faster than the SDL rendered AdvanceMAME.
Given these points for the best results it is advisable to run your Raspberry Pi at the highest overclock setting that is stable on your system. Access the configuration menu by Typing: sudo (If not logged in as root) raspi-config from a Terminal or Console and/or run emulators straight from Console, outside of X Windows.
One last thing, there is NEVER a ‘Perfect’ solution with emulation! Each have their own distinct advantages/disadvantages, it’s all about what you are willing to compromise on and your criteria, be it performance, accuracy, ROM/Image compatibility or ease of use. All emulators are built on/for/with the Raspbian Operating System unless stated otherwise.

*Jeff Vavasour's excellent article 'Back To The Classics: Perfecting The Emulation For Digital Eclipse's Atari Anthology' for an in depth account of the complexities in programming emulators for modern systems.
Link - http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1 ... cting_.php

GDC Conference 2016: "It's Just Emulation!" - The Challenge of Selling Old Games
Some further Digital Eclipse insight from Historian/Developer Frank Cifaldi. The GDC (Games Developers Conference) happens once a year and at the recent one he discussed their Mega Man Legacy Collection and his reasons for its production with the History/Future of Emulation covered extensively. (Plus a rather interesting fact regarding ‘The Big N’s’ Official Press Release on Emulators and ROM Downloads!)

FORUM RULES ON POSTING IN REGARDS TO ROMS/GAME IMAGES
Due to the nature/complexity of Copyright/Intellectual Property Rights Law, which differs significantly from Country to Country, before posting on the Forum regarding Emulation please read the following rules. ROMS/Game Images are prolifically available on the Internet (a quick search in your favourite Web Browser should suffice), however, to protect the Raspberry Pi Foundation from possible legal action by the Copyright Owners please DO NOT -

CAMBRIDGE CENTRE FOR COMPUTING HISTORY
If 'Retro' or Historical Computers/Consoles are your thing (if your here reading this they probably are!), I recently visited this Museum. I can wholy recommend a visit, for rather than being locked behind glass with 'Do Not Touch' signs, everything is 'Hands on' and playable. Some of the more Historical/Interesting items I spotted were Ian Williamson's Sinclair MK14 wire wrap 'Prototype', Steve Furbers original design documents for the ARM Processor and Douglas Adams personal Apple Mac with an obligatory Towel, "The most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have". Sponsors include The Heritage Lottery, ARM Holdings and The Raspberry Pi Foundation.

For Parents/Carers reading this thinking you may not enjoy it, I took my older brother along who has only a passing interest in Computers/Games. He didn't want to leave! "Just one more go on Gyruss!" (Arcade)

HARDWARE
PiPLAY Team - DESKCADE
From Shea Silverman and the Team who brought you PiPLAY a new Kickstarter has recently been launched, the Deskcade. Deskcade is proposed to be a ‘Self Build’ Desktop Arcade Console powered by the Raspberry Pi! It will use the Official Raspberry Pi Touchscreen Display contained in a small, neat Desktop unit including authentic Arcade Joystick/Buttons and be compatible with PiPLAY and RetroPie.
An Introduction to DESKCADE - https://d2pq0u4uni88oo.cloudfront.net/p ... 4_high.mp4
Kickstarter Link - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/19 ... e?ref=card

Pimoroni - PiCade. The Raspberry Pi Guy has posted a Review of Pimoroni's PiCade. The FIRSTBRITISH Kick Starter Project! Now available for purchase, although I have yet to See/Review/Examine a production Version, it certainly looks like a nice/cost effective Product for Emulation Solutions! (Oh, BTW, if anyone from Pimoroni is reading this, a Review Version would be GRATEFULLY Appreciated!! lol).
Review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx8EtrShF5g
Shop Link - http://shop.pimoroni.com/products/picade

. WEBSITES
Raspberry RETRO"Welcome to the site of Raspberry Retro. This site is dedicated to the growing number of people who are interested in using the Raspberry Pi for Retro Gaming. Here you will find up to date news on anything related to retro gaming on the Pi, including building cabinets and consoles, how to install the software to get it all running and what to do once it’s all installed."
That's the intro to New Website Raspberry RETRO!
User ashmck73 has created a Website for Emulation and Retro Gaming. Unlike other Wesites I have visited, this one is dedicated to Emulation and covers all the popular SD Card Image Distro's available for the RPi, including other Development Boards. [/color]
Homepage - http://raspberryretro.com/

Retro Emulation Pi - FPGA & Co.
User Chirone72 contacted me regarding a Facebook Group dedicated to Emulation, primarily on Rpi and Android devices
Description -
‘This group, although nostalgic and respectful to the past of retrocomputing, to which it is totally dedicated, looks to the future from a hardware point of view, dealing with alternative solutions for those who want to continue using the old platforms of the 70s, 80s and 90s, the same that marked the childhood and adolescence of generations.’
Link - https://www.facebook.com/groups/retroem ... i/?fref=ts

DAPHNE - Arcade; LaserDisc "Dragon's Lair, the fantasy Adventure where become a valiant Knight on a quest to rescue the fair Princess from the clutches of an evil Dragon"

To ANYBODY who frequented Arcades in the early 80s, that usually sends a Shiver Down the Spine! Although not actually the first LaserDisc Title, a Prototype Sega Astron Belt debued at an Arcade Trade Show first, or the most financially successful when 'Coin Drop' (the amount of money taken by the Cabinets) is included, that would be Gottlieb's M.A.C.H 3, being the first to market created a media storm. Looking unlike anything seen previously, with Disney Quality Animation* as it's Graphics instead of abstract bit-mapped pixels or vectors, it garnered additional mainstream interest in Video Games which was at already reaching its peak in 1983, prior to the 'Video Game Crash'. Such was its popularity to casual viewers, many Arcades added an additional Monitor on top of the Cabinet so others could watch active games being played. With a game dynamic now described as 'QTE' (Quick Time Events), such was it's impact that it is currently one of the Video Games, along with Pong and Pac-Man, displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

* Not surprising as it was produced by ex Disney Animator and Director Don Bluth who's Studios who were later responsible for animated Films An American Tail, Anastasia and Titan A.E. (if you haven't seen Titan A.E I highly recommend checking it out, although a MASSIVE FLOP on release which caused the closure of Fox Animation Studio's it is now heralded as one of the best Animated Films EVER!).

Matt Oweby and his Team created the LaserDisc Emulator Daphne which runs Dragon's Lair as well as well as many other Titles. Building on the Source Code, user shmoopty has produced a Pi2/3 Fork daphne-pi which is now available or can be added to SD Card Image RetroPie (from the 'Experimental' section of the RetroPie Set-Up Menu).

WINE - Windows
‘Wine (an acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator") is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, Mac OSX‘
So states the Official ‘Blurb’ on the WINE Website. I have also previously read the Acronym originally stood for WINdows Emulator, nether the less, WINE is a tool for running Windows Programs within Linux or OSX. But as described in the Introduction -‘In computing, an emulator is hardware or software, or both, that duplicates (or emulates) the functions of one computer system (the guest) in another computer system (the host)‘
So by definition, I would consider it IS an Emulator! Eltechs ExaGear Desktop for Raspberry Pi allows installation of WINE on Raspbian. I, as yet, haven’t tested it so am unaware of its performance.
Link - https://eltechs.com/gaming-beyond-retropie-part-2/

COOLCV - ColecoVision
Released in 1982 the ColecoVision was another unfortunate victim of the 1983 'Video Game Crash'. Having previously had great success with electronic games, small LED Hand-Held’s, Table Top's and Pong units Coleco decided to produce a Home Console bringing in respected Arcade R&D designer Eric Bromley to head the project. He wisely lobbied Management to Licence existing properties rather than release 'Clones' his argument being, quite correctly, that prospective buyers would instantly recognize Official names and accordingly want to purchase the System. Famously during a trip to the Toilet/Rest Room at Nintendo headquarters in Japan to licence product noticed a strangely named, as yet unreleased, prototype Arcade Cabinet he instantly realized would be perfect to launch with the new system,....Donkey Kong! The System also, unlike most other Consoles actually made use of its expansion port for various 'Modules' including: The Adam Computer, a Steering Wheel for Driving games and a 'Super Expansion Module' which would have added further processing power and expanded storage (unreleased due to the 'Crash'). Remarkably and unthinkable today, it also released a Module that allowed Atari VCS/2600 Titles to be played on the Coleco!

Oscar Toledog has produced a ColecoVison Emulator including an RPi Fork which is now available or can be added to SD Card Image RetroPie (from the 'Experimental' section of the RetroPie Set-Up Menu).
Website - http://nanochess.org/retro.html

DraStic - Nintendo DS
After the ‘Disappointing’ sales of the Game Boy Advance (if you can call almost 82 Million units disappointing!). In 2004 Nintendo released the third iteration of it’s Portable Console, the DS.
Returning to the Clam Shell/Two Screen design of the Donkey Kong ‘Game & Watch’ for an improved form factor, with the second screen being a Touch derivative, and employing multiple ARM Processors (ARM9 & ARM7). The DS returned the Company to the stratospheric sales of the Original Game Boy incarnation. It is the biggest selling portable* ever and second most successful Console of all time after the PlayStation2.

* I would envisage this record will stand for the foreseeable future, or probably EVER! The Portable console is a Dinosaur of a bygone era. Why would the ‘Casual Gamer’, on whom huge sales depend, buy a portable Console when they have a Smart Phone? Thus having to carry around an additional piece of Hardware?

Exophase has ported his highly impressive Pandora/Android DS Emulator DraStic, an early Build is now available for the Pi2&3 via RetroPie as an 'Unofficial' release. Exophase has indicated a full release & Binary will be availabe when Time allows to intergrate the Beta Testing Feedback. It runs ‘Fullspeed’ on a Pi3 or overclocked Pi2 WITHIN XWindows! The Binary can be added to SD Card Image RetroPie from the 'Experimental' section Set-Up Menu.

SD CARD IMAGES - Pre Packaged SD Card Images which include multiple emulators, a Front End (GUI) along with (in some cases) ROM finders and drivers/configuration for a variety of controller’s. I have listed the emulators currently included for reference.

Smithers Complete RetroPie Set-Up
User Smithers had made available another RetroPie/Emulation Station Image. As with some other Images (UltraSlim, PES), it’s a Multi System Emulator with the addition of KODI (previously XBMC), the Home Theatre Software (Link - http://kodi.tv/). Unlike the others it is an Image of HIS PERSONAL set-up so little if no configuration should be needed, but without any ROMS or DISC/CD Images (See ‘FORUM RULES ON POSTING IN REGARDS TO ROMS/GAME IMAGES’ Above).

HAPPI Game Centre
Another RetroPie/Emulation Station Image multisystem emulator with KODI including the usual features and a full-speed, custom filter mimicking old CRT screens. It comes in Pi1 and Pi2 flavours and there is also an ODROID version for those who are interested.
Homepage - http://happi-game-center.com/

ZXBaremulator - ZXSpectrum
If thoughts of the ZXSpectrum starts you reminiscing about ‘Dead Flesh’ Keyboards, sound from an inbuilt speaker/buzzer and many a playground argument on why it was better than the C64 this may be for you. User jspeccy has written a Spectrum Emulator which runs via an Image that can be used without the Raspbian OS (i.e. ‘Bare-Metal’*). Thus your Raspberry Pi is now a self contained ZXSpectrum to use at your leisure. A simple, elegant solution to ZXSpectrum Emulation.

* A bare-metal Emulator is one that does not need to load an Operating System first. The load is instantaneous and you have all the resources of the machine at your disposal

Fceux - Nintendo Famicom/NES
Andrey (Unreal Speccy Portable, Atari800) has ported an optimised version of Fceux. All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi.
Download Link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/uu751ibdqmvq0co/fceux.zip

PiFBA - Arcade
Pudding has ported an optimised version of Final Burn Alpha. All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for Neo-Geo Titles and the only one available for Capcom CPSII games on the Raspberry Pi. It will also run 'Danmaku' (Bullet Hell Shooters) like DoDonPachi, with 2 Players, minimal slowdown/frame skip, on a Pi1!
Homepage - http://sourceforge.net/projects/pifba/

PiSNES - Nintendo Super Famicom/SNES
Pudding has ported an optimised version of Snes9x. All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi.
Homepage - http://sourceforge.net/projects/pisnes/

PiMENU - Emulator Front End
Pudding has produced a simple to use/intergrate Front End for his emulators (PiFBA, PiMAME4ALL and PiSNES), others can also be integrated.
Homepage - http://sourceforge.net/projects/pimenu/

PicoDrive - Sega MegaDrive/Genesis, SEGA/MEGA CD & 32X
Chips has produced an Optimized version of PicoDrive (from Notaz’s original Code). Mega/Sega CD and 32X Titles all work flawlessly, Fullscreen, even in XWindows! Included in the download are two versions, one for the Pi1 and a Pi2 Binary with further optimizations. All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi.
Download Link - http://fdarcel.free.fr/picodrive-rpi-chips-0_1.bz2

OsmOse - Sega Master System/Game Gear
Palerider has compiled OsmOse (Built from Vedder Bruno’s Source Code). All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi.
Download Link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/z6l69wge8q1xq ... 22.tar.bz2

Mupen64plus-Rpi - Nintendo 64 (WIP)
Shea Silverman (PiMAME) has compiled Mupen64plus-Rpi (Ric_rpi’s WIP ‘Alpha’ See SOURCE CODE Below). It is currently the only emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi.
Download Link - http://sheasilverman.com/rpi/raspbian/m ... us-rpi.zip

VICE - Commodore 64
I have compiled and made available the C64 Binary from VICE (See SOURCE CODE - Compile Your Own Binaries below), because, lets be honest, who wants a Commodore PET Emulator? PLUS4 anyone? Anyone!? All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi.
Link - http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 78&t=69420

Atari800 - Atari 8bit Computer Line & 5200 Console
I aim to be impartial in this Thread (to preclude argument), but after posting the C64 VICE Binary I thought it prudent to give further consideration in these pages to what many (including myself) consider the greatest, yet often overlooked (especially here in the UK) Personal Computer of its time, the Atari 8Bit Line.
As Archer Mclean noted on the challenge of porting Dropzone to Commodore's less capable Hardware (I concur having similar issues with my own, humble, software) “The Atari, being the Porsche of home computers, is capable of running Dropzone 2.5 times faster than the 64 and can handle any amount of blobs on screen, even when you release a Strata Bomb. It is visually, sonically etc., identical and about 12K shorter. However, the 64 is still a respectable BMW316”.
Considering the first variations of the Hardware (Atari 400/800) were originally released in 1979, three years before the C64, makes it even more remarkable and a testament to Jay Miner’s* Custom Chip design (ANTIC, CTIA/GTIA, POKEY) genius.

*Jay Miner was also the designer of the ‘Pong on a Chip’ for Atari’s consumer Pong Consoles, the Atari VCS/2600 TIA and the Commodore Amiga’s 'Lorraine' custom Chipset.

OpenMSX - MSX Computer Line
MSX was conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi in 1983, Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation in an attempt to create a unified standard Hardware for Personal Computers. From a Gaming view point it can be likened performance wise to the Colecovision and Sega SG1000 using the similar (although not identical) TI Graphics Chip (TMS9918) and GI Sound Chip (AY-3-8910). Hugely popular in Japan, Holland and the Middle East many of the big Japanese manufactures; Sony, Panasonic, Yamaha, Canon, Toshiba, Hitachi, Pioneer etc. supported the System which although standardized for Software compatibility allowed enhancements to the basic Specifications to concede for Hardware USP’s (Unique Selling Points). Yamaha for instance included MIDI interfaces for Sequencing of Synthesizers, Pioneer released a compatible LaserDisc Module (Sega’s Astron Belt and other Titles were converted), Sony’s Models included large amounts of RAM for use in professional Video Editing etc. Ulysess has posted a Binary of OpenMSX on his Website (there is also plenty of other RPi related material there, do have a look around!) and instruction on how to compile it yourself if you so desire.
Link - http://misapuntesde.com/post.php?id=382

Uae4Armiga4Pi - Commodore Amiga
The Amiga Project Team is working on a mix of hardware and software that aims to take back the original Amiga experience..., even its look and feel! They have modified and released an Alpha version of the software, a fork of UAE4All, which includes a very nice Custom GUI.
Link - http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 78&t=78597

RetroArch - Multiple Systems (Including the New 'Fullspeed' PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 CD Core)
RetroArch, the cross-platform portable, modular, multisystem emulator which forms the Basis of SD Card Images RetroPie and UltraSlim, now offers 'Fullspeed' emulation of the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 CD System! As regular readers of my postings will no doubt have realised by now, I’m rather fond of the PC Engine, it kick started the 'Grey Import' market in the UK and I didn't hesitate to purchase one myself in 1988 after being “Astonished” witnessing R-Type running on NEC's little White Marvel. Vanfanel has compiled the latest version of RetroArch which also includes other Cores such as PicoDrive (MegaDrive/Genesis + Mega/Sega CD), Stella (Atari VCS/2600) and FCEUmm (NES/Famicom). All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for these Systems (amongst many others!) on the Raspberry Pi.
Link - http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 78&t=80357

UAE4ALL2 - Commodore Amiga
Chips has produced an optimized version of UAE4ALL2. There are many improvements over UAE4ALL including increased performance and the GUI is neater allowing 'multiple' Floppy Drives without any fuss. Software is also emulated more accurately with CinemaWare Titles for instance, now running without glitches in Cut Scenes and the infamous 'Juggler' Demo rendering correctly (in UAE4ALL there were heavy graphical errors). Again as with his version of PicoDrive he has produced two Binaries, one for the Pi1 and another for the Pi2 with further optimizations. All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi
Link - viewtopic.php?f=78&t=102328

Rpix86 - DOS
Patrick Aalto has ported an optimized version of DOSBOX the IBMPC Emulator, all criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi.
Homepage - http://rpix86.patrickaalto.com/rdown.html

Unreal Speccy Portable - Sinclair ZX Spectrum
One of the Early British Home Computers that along with the ZX80/81 kick started the ‘Bedroom Coding’ boom in the UK. At less than half the price of competing Models (Acorn’s BBC Model A/B) it gained a substantial user base becoming the UK’s biggest selling British made Home Computer, until the release of the RPi that is! Andrey has produced a ZX Spectrum Emulator which is optimised for the RPi. All criteria considered it is currently the best emulator for the system on the Raspberry Pi.
Homepage - https://bitbucket.org/djdron/unrealspeccyp/wiki/Home

SOURCE CODE - Compile Your Own Binaries

I have posted numerous ‘Guides’ for those wishing to compile their own emulators, that way getting the best performance/results, excluding any that have been ‘Optimised’ and learn about computing and Linux in the process, which I believe was the intention of the Foundation rather than just ‘Flashing’ an Image to an SD Card or downloading a pre compiled Binary. They include detail on where to download the emulator, how to compile/set up and use it along with some suggested titles, other musings and trivia.

RetroArch
Vanfanel has written a Tutorial on how to compile, setup and run RetroArch the cross-platform portable, modular, multisystem emulator along with instruction on building various ‘Cores’ (the emulators). Retro Pie is based on this platform, however, this ‘custom’ build has a Raspberry Pi specific ‘lighter’ executable resulting in improved performance. One specific advantage I have discovered over RetroPie is that there seems to be no issues/problems with game saves on any of the Cores so far tested. Well worth a try (with regards to NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 emulation there is nothing to touch it!) if you like to ‘Tinker’ with Linux, emulators and the Raspberry Pi!
RetroArch on Raspbian: the tutorial
Thread Link - http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 78&t=56070

RetroArch - New 'Fullspeed' PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 CD Core
For those wishing to compile their own 'Fullspeed' PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 CD Core (See PRE COMPILED BINARIES - Ready to run Executables: RetroArch Above) it is now available at the Libretro GitHub. I have tested with various older versions of RetroArch and can confirm compatibility, a simple 'make' command is sufficient to compile the Core.
Download - https://github.com/libretro/beetle-pce- ... c0a7a61ba2

RetroArch - New Vectrex Core
‘Classic’ is an overused word nowadays but a genuine ‘Golden Age’ Retro Classic, Smith Engineering’s Vectrex, an unfortunate casualty of the ‘Video Game Crash’ in 1983 is now available for Emulation on the Pi using a new RetroArch Core. Released in 1982 the console was powered by a Motorola 68A09 CPU running at 1.5 MHz with an additional General Instrument AY-3-8910 sound processor, it also had a ‘Built in’ Asteroids Clone, Minestorm.
Graphics were provided by a Vector Display* which is still unique for a Home Console, the System made use of plastic ‘Overlays’ to augment its black and white output prompting Milton Bradley, who wished to get into the now lucrative Video Game market, to purchase the Company in 1983. One of the Systems USP’s (Unique Selling Points) was being as the screen was self-contained in the unit there was no need to seize control of the TV for play (in that age most family’s only had one, ask your parents! lol).
In the mid-90s all rights reverted to Smith Engineering, Jay Smith generously put the entire ROM Set (including the System Bios) into Public Domain so unlike many other Emulators they can be freely distributed (link below) and used with a completely clear conscience!

*Due to the fact most Raster Displays (standard CRT’s, Cathode Ray Tubes) were limited in display resolution, generally 256X192 pixels; many Companies used Vector based systems to achieve ‘High Res’ images. Atari called theirs ‘XY Graphics’ or ‘Random Scan’ which was used in Lunar Lander, Asteroids, Tempest and Star Wars amongst others.

RetroArch - New NEC SuperGrafx Core
Originally thought of as the ‘PCEngine 2’ history has revealed this wasn’t quite the case. Apparently; Namco had approached NEC with a new Arcade Board, rumoured to be the NA-1, which was inexpensive enough to be turned into a mainstream Home Console.
Fearing the loss of their hardware partner, Hudson abandoned development of the fully 16Bit PCEngine2, hastily producing the SuperGrafx. Festooned in an unusual design looking like an engine block, the system contained another pair of its 16Bit Custom Hardware Chips (HuC6280 & HuC6270) with more RAM , which of course, made it fully ‘Backwards Compatible' with the original PCEngine, but no sound upgrade. A failure in the Japanese home market, consumers stuck to their trusty PCEngine’s led to the console being released only in Japan. Five games were produced exclusively for the SuperGrafx and two PCEngine titles were enhanced when running on the system. However, Daimakaimura (Ghouls ‘n Ghosts) was the best home conversion for a console* far superior to the ‘Stripped Down’ MegaDrive/Genesis’s, offering a glimpse of the systems potential.

*The Sharp 68000 computer version was the most accurate but being the actual development system for Capcom’s CPS Arcade Board it cannot be considered a conversion.

There is now a ‘Stand Alone’ RetroArch Core available (based on Mednafen), for those wishing to experience the SuperGrafx, Daimakaimura and 1941: Counter Attack being the jewels in the crown for the Console and well worth checking out.
SuperGrafx Core - https://github.com/libretro/beetle-supergrafx-libretro

RetroArch - New Nintendo Game & Watch Core
Nintendo - Game & Watch Series
The Game & Watch series was a phenomenal success for Nintendo selling in the millions and now VERY collectable. A series of single, LCD games, many of which are now extremely valuable. Designed by Gunpei Yokio of GameBoy fame, the series provided the first iteration of what was to become the ‘GamePad’ with two buttons and a four way control pad.
A RetroArch Core is available which emulates the different Game & Watch Titles, surprisingly, very effectively!
Nintendo Game & Watch Core - https://github.com/libretro/gw-libretro

Mupen64plus-Rpi
ric_rpi has taken on the challenge of making a usable/playable N64 emulator and has comprehensively succeeded! It is still in an ‘Alpha’ stage but if you want to test it for yourself I have written a Tutorial including detail on where to download the emulator, how to compile/set up and use it along with some suggested titles, other musings and trivia.
WIP: Playable Nintendo 64 Emulator Available
Thread Link - http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 78&t=58395
Download Link - https://github.com/ricrpi/mupen64plus

Acorn Archimedes
Vanfanel has posted regarding Jonathan Abbott's work which has now made possible Native emulation of the Acorn Archimedes within RISC OS (i.e. devoid of ArcEm). Of significant Historical interest, the Acorn Archimedes was the first Personal Computer to use an ARM Processor as its CPU (it was first made available as a co-processor for the BBC Micro) and from a Technical standpoint vastly outperformed the competition at the time (especially in regards to 3D Polygon Graphics).
Link - http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 78&t=71473

Sinclair ZX80/ZX81 and Jupiter Ace
I have been discussing ZX80/81 Emulation with mob-i-l, of which, various solutions are available (edited transcript Link below). Although the Hardware was quite limited (no Colour for instance) these two machines were instrumental in kick-starting the UK/Europe Personal Computer boom in the early 80s due to their extraordinarily cheap prices. Released in the year of their suffix, kit or Pre Built versions of the ZX80 retailed at £70/£100 and the ZX81 £50/£70 respectively, as a comparison my first Hardware purchase (a Commodore VIC-20) cost £225 in 1981 which I promptly traded for the far more capable Atari 400 at £350! I have also attached a Jupiter Ace Emulator from his previous posting, another UK curiosity due to the use of Forth as its primary language rather than the usual Basic, while never selling in the volumes of the ZX80/ZX81 (only 8000 were produced) this has made it very collectable in the Retro market.
Link - http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 37#p520337

MSX Computer Line
Ulysess has posted a Guide on his Website (there is also plenty of other RPi related material there, do have a look around!) on how to compile OpenMSX, for details on the History of the Hardware See Above (PRE COMPILED BINARIES - Ready to run Executables:OpenMSX - MSX Computer Line).
Link - http://misapuntesde.com/post.php?id=382

Reicast - Sega Dreamcast: The first Emulator to show what is possible on the Pi2 Hardware!
The last Sega Home Console which was hoped would revive its fortunes after the failure of the Saturn, in the USA at Least, which contrary to popular belief was a massive success in Japan unlike the MegaDrive which bombed spectacularly against the PCEngine.
Unfortunately its failure in both territories (at the time both Sega and Nintendo practically ignored Europe) was due to various factors, chief of which was NO DVD Optic Drive (it used a proprietary 1GB CD Drive). Clever marketing and 'misinformation' (i.e. blatant fabrication*) about the power of the as yet unreleased Sony Hardware, which was a common practice at the time, led to may consumers waiting before deciding on their Console purchase.
Surprisingly, or perhaps not given the poor initial releases, the biggest selling software title in Japan for the first 6 months of the PlayStation 2 was 'The Matrix' as due to Laser Disks popularity DVD had a slow uptake, but the writing was on the wall for Sega and before long they were relegated from a big player in consumer Hardware to a software publisher only.

*It's much touted '60 Million Polygons/Sec' was a theoretical number, in actuality the 'In Game' performance was 3 Million, on a par with the Dreamcast. They had used the same trick with the original PlayStation which could only render one fifth of its advertised 500, 000 polys with textures and lighting applied. This was nothing new, Sega had used a similar tactic against the TurboGrafx-16 in the USA during the 'Bit Wars'. (See - http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 29#p302029)

PPSSPP - PSP
Released in December 2004 the ‘Play Station Portable’ was a big success for Sony selling in the region of 80 Million units. Containing a MIPS 4000 CPU, ‘Media Engine’ (GPU) and proprietary UMD Drive (Universal Media Disc) it was a very capable piece of Hardware and much more powerful* than its competition, Nintendo’s DS^. I have a soft spot for the PSP, it got me back into Hardware/Firmware hacking after many years of frustration confined to 'Closed Systems' (other than simple ‘Overclocking’) and is still my ‘Weapon of Choice’ for portable Emulation.
PPSSPP is currently the best PSP Emulator available and was written by one of the Team responsible for Dolphin, the GameCube/Wii Emulator. As yet no user has made a Binary available so you will have to compile it yourself and I haven’t tinkered with it so can provide no information on performance but apparently its very respectable.

*Although the original aim was for similar performance to the original PlayStation1 the final Hardware was much more capable, ending up halfway between the PS1 and PS2 which gained it the unofficial moniker 'PlayStation 1.5' during development.
^Proof yet again that having the most Powerful Hardware doesn’t always result in market domination, in fact, this is rarely the case!

UAE4ARM - Commodore Amiga
Further testament to Chip Designer Jay Miner’s ‘Genius’ (Atari VCS/Atari 8Bit Computer Line), along with its advanced Graphics and Sound the Amiga was also the first Home Computer to offer a ‘Multi-Tasking’ Operating System way back in 1985! Revolutionary at the time, for instance in an age when colours were limited to 8 or 16 the Amiga could display 4096…..4096!!! It was even used in TV production for its Graphic capabilities in shows such as SeaQuest DSV and Babylon 5.
Although perhaps remaining a 'Niche' for our North Atlantic users, where the dominance of PC's as Home Computers (IBM and Clones were three times the price for a decidedly inferior System) and the rise of the NES as a Console (which had limited success here) , the Amiga and Atari's ST range ushered in the '16 Bit' generation of Hardware.
Chips has made available uae4arm, specifically optimised for the RPi2. I have tested the Binary and it seems to be pretty much flawless, even the final 'HAM' (Hold and Modify, where those 4096 colours can be displayed) Image at the end of the 'Shadow of the Beast' loading screen shows no artefacts/colour issues where as previous Emulators have. Best of all, the GUI will be familiar to WinUAE users! All criteria considered it is currently BY FAR the best solution for Amiga Emulation on the Raspberry Pi. It is available as a Binary or Source Code for those users who like to compile their own Programs.
Forum Thread Link - viewtopic.php?f=78&t=110488

For examples of why PC's and the NES were completely dominated/reduced to little more than 'Secondary Systems' in Europe at the time, check out Cinemaware's Amiga Software which has been made available by 'Public Domain', i.e. without any 'Copyright Issues'
Here - http://www.cinemaware.com/

In regards to the pace of change/acceleration of computer technology (see Moore's Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law). Twenty Eight years ago I purchased a 512K (that's KILOBYTES, not MEGA/GIGA Bytes) RAM upgrade for my Amiga 500. The cost today (inflation adjusted), I could purchase NINE Raspberry Pi's for the same Price!

robertybob
In regards to Glint, I was aware of it and did consider including it as an SD CARD IMAGE, but it only contains one emulator and doesn't seem to have been updated since January 2013. Nintendo's NES is well represented in two of the SD CARD IMAGES, other available emulators (AdvanceMESS, Mednafen) and my aim was to cover as many systems as possible. In addition, Andreys port of Fceux (PRE COMPILED BINARIES) is Optimised with OpenGLES rendering (running fullscreen/fullspeed in Console or X Windows), has excellent ROM compatibility/accuracy and presents a much smaller download.

KitchUK
Its a personal opinion, are you using RetroPie (petrockblog's auto script) or RetroArch (Stand Alone)? As I indicted in the Forward 'Each have their own distinct advantages/disadvantages, it’s all about what you are willing to compromise on and your criteria, be it performance, accuracy, ROM/Image compatibility or ease of use'. It is certainly easier to set-up and configure than either RetroPie or RetroArch, the best thing to do is to try it and decide for yourself.

Last edited by welshy on Tue Sep 24, 2013 4:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

welshy wrote:mrpi64
From memory in the home/pi DIR there should be a 'Hidden' folder mednafen, in this folder is the mednafen.cfg file (this will appear after the first run of the emulator). Open it and change -

video.driver opengl
to
video.driver sdl

You should also be able to 'force' it by adding -vdriver sdl into the command line instruction, but I'm not sure if this over writes the cfg file (probably not)

Thanks. You know that keys on the keyboard are registered to different numbers, such as 119, 236 ETC? Well, can someone please tell me what the keys are for: Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Left Arrow, Right Arrow, S, D, X, C, A, F? Thanks.

I'm happy to help.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=51794 - List of games that work on the Pi.

What do you recommend?. I have used the retropie in a Sd but I dont know how to load mame, its only mark on screen, doom, apple II, duke nukem, pc x86, and any others games but any trace of Mame.
I have tested too the chameleon pi, and it shows on screen a mame selection, I have tested any games and for example: Vendetta it works but slowly, and Cadillacs and dinosaurs works great.

jdeacon
los hubieron problemas! Chameleon Remix uses AdvanceMAME which as it has SDL rendering is slower than the RetroArch iMAME4ALL Core that uses OpenGLES (SDL isn't using the GPU where as OpenGLES does). If you used RetroPie it may be it didn't compile correctly. I haven't used RetroPie so cannot really help with any issues (although I do use a 'custom' version of RetroArch), however, Takenover83‘s UltraSlim is very similar (again, using RetroArch), it contains ric_rpi's relatively new Mupen64plus-Rpi (Nintendo 64 emulator) and along with XBMC (the Media Centre) included its a slick package (and a small download!) but you will need different ROMS to AdvanceMAME (MAME v 0.37b5 to be precise). If MAME is your priority try puddings PiMAME4ALL Binary, its the best performing version of MAME for the RPi, Shea Silvermans PiMAME Image includes it and AdvanceMAME as standard and he too has just added Mupen64plus-Rpi in the latest revision. PiMAME doesn't use RetroArch at all but includes some of the best RPi 'optimised' Binaries available.